ASL-102 American Sign Language II

This course is the second in a series of courses designed to develop the skills and knowledge needed to communicate in American Sign Language. ASL 102 is an introductory level course that develops a novice range of communication skills with the ability to expand discourse based on prior knowledge. This course emphasizes the cultural behaviors and practices distinct to those that approach the world from a visual perspective. Topics include: contemporary events and issues that impact the D/deaf community; linguistic minority groups; and language features. This course carries SUNY General Education World Language credit.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ASL-101 or Requisite Experience

Lecture Contact Hours

3

Lab Contact Hours

0

Other Contact Hours

0

Department

  • Humanities

Grading Scheme

  • Letter

SUNY Gen Ed Credit

  • Yes

Semesters Course Will Be Offered

  • Fall
  • Spring
  • Summer

Course Learning Outcomes

  1. Employ a novice range of communication skills: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational with ability to expand content specific discourse based on prior knowledge
  2. Recognize the D/deaf community as a linguistic minority group.
  3. Examine contemporary events and/or issues that impact the D/deaf community.
  4. Compare language modalities: spoken vs. signed.
  5. Identify diversity within the D/deaf community.
View Course Outline

ASL 102: American Sign Language II

Department

Humanities

Course Description

This course is the second in a series of courses designed to develop the skills and knowledge needed to communicate in American Sign Language. ASL 102 is an introductory level course that develops a novice range of communication skills with the ability to expand discourse based on prior knowledge. This course emphasizes the cultural behaviors and practices distinct to those that approach the world from a visual perspective. Topics include: contemporary events and issues that impact the D/deaf community; linguistic minority groups; and language features. This course carries SUNY General Education World Language credit.

Credit Hours

3

Contact Hours

Lecture3
Lab0
Other0

Grading Scheme

Letter

Semester(s) Course Will Be Offered

Fall, Spring, Summer

Prerequisites

ASL-101 or Requisite Experience

SUNY General Education Course

  • World Languages

Course Learning Outcomes

  1. Employ a novice range of communication skills: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational with ability to expand content specific discourse based on prior knowledge
  2. Recognize the D/deaf community as a linguistic minority group.
  3. Examine contemporary events and/or issues that impact the D/deaf community.
  4. Compare language modalities: spoken vs. signed.
  5. Identify diversity within the D/deaf community.

Topic Outline

  1. Communication: ASL in context-specific contexts with expansion 
    1. Simple statements (affirmative and negative); basic question types (yes/no and wh-questions); emerging topicalization and rhetorical
    2. Non-manual markers: grammatical, emotive, size, shape, and relative distance
    3. Basic classifiers: semantic, descriptive, and locative
    4. Functional structures: contrastive structure, ranking/listing, spatial agreement, basic role-shifting
    5. Novice range expressive and receptive fingerspelling
    6. Navigate full-immersion signing environment (voice-off) 
      1. Points, gestures, signs, relies on writing only to express complex thoughts/ideas
  2. Cultures 
    1. Mainstream perceptions of minority language users 
      1. Access to language and education for Deaf students
      2. Deafcentrism vs. disability
    2. Visual acuity; attuned to visual cues and prompts
    3. Culturally appropriate behaviors: waving, tapping, wait for visual contact, listener’s feedback (YES, RIGHT, DON’T-KNOW, DON’T-UNDERSTAND, SORRY, AGAIN/REPEAT, OH-I-SEE)
    4. Name signs (arbitrary and descriptive)
  3. Connections
    1. Contemporary events/issues – potential topics: 
      1. Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA); Least Restrictive Environment (LRE); Bi-lingual Bi-cultural education; unwritten curriculum
      2. Technology
  4. Comparisons 
    1. Spoken language compared to sign language phonology and morphology (parameters of a sign)
  5. Communities 
    1. Identify diversity within the D/deaf community (Sign Language Continuum/ type of school attended/ etc.)